Friday, July 23, 2010

I'm writing this on a hot Friday evening in Rome - 32 degrees in the house, when I should be relaxing down the coast.

But I promised to give you the answers to Six Minute English, and here they are:

1) According to a recent survey in Britain, when does middle age begin? Is it at:(a) 35; (b) 40; (c) 45 ?The answer is (a)! (Rather surprising.)2) It happens to people who are in their forties and fifties. Essentially it is a worrying fear of getting old. People react by looking for ways to recapture their youth.

3) In a quarter-life crisis people...... are aged in their twenties.... worry about who they are and where they are going or what they are doing.4) Quarter-life crises are mainly caused by (mention three causes):(a) student debt(b) unaffordable property(c) a very competitive job market5) Is the quarter-life crisis the same as the mid-life crisis but twenty years earlier? Give reasons for your answer. No, it isn't the same: while middle-aged people worry about getting old, young people worry about the job market and finding somewhere to live.

6) Callum says he is nearly a hundred years old.

That's all for now everyone! Very many thanks to Savina, Paolo and Giovanni for your contributions to the Discussion Board.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, find a few minutes each week to visit this Blog and explore some of the web sites that are shown here. I'd say that just twenty minutes every so often will help maintain your contact with English.

Try some of the listening web sites and, at the very least, keep up with the summer's news stories through English media such as the BBC, CNN and the newspapers online.

And as always, share your thoughts with us in a Comment or on the Tag Board.

Have a very good summer vacation! I'll be back on the first of September.